New section of Shining Sea Bikeway opens

FALMOUTH — A new stretch of pavement less than eight miles long is leaving bikers, joggers and walkers breathless.

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By GEORGE BRENNAN

capecodtimes.com

By GEORGE BRENNAN

Posted Jun. 13, 2009 at 2:00 AM
Updated Jun 13, 2009 at 2:33 AM

By GEORGE BRENNAN

Posted Jun. 13, 2009 at 2:00 AM
Updated Jun 13, 2009 at 2:33 AM

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Expanded recreation trail

The Shining Sea Bikeway is named for Katharine Lee Bates, the Falmouth woman who wrote the poem that became the song "America the Beautiful."

The bike path runs along a prehistoric Wampa...

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Expanded recreation trail

The Shining Sea Bikeway is named for Katharine Lee Bates, the Falmouth woman who wrote the poem that became the song "America the Beautiful."

The bike path runs along a prehistoric Wampanoag Indian trail.

From 1872 to 1957 it was used by the Penn Central Railroad for train service to Woods Hole.

In 1975, the town purchased 3.3 miles of the right-of way for $329,000 and one year later, the path was officially opened to bikes.

The new 7.4-mile stretch from Falmouth center to North Falmouth was paid for through a $300,000 town debt exclusion for design work, $3.2 million in federal funds for construction and $21,700 from the state Department of Conservation and Recreation for informational kiosks and brochures.

FALMOUTH — A new stretch of pavement less than eight miles long is leaving bikers, joggers and walkers breathless.

But the gasping has less to do with exercise and more to do with awe. The spectacular views offered from the freshly minted section of Shining Sea Bikeway are right out of the Katherine Lee Bates song — "America the Beautiful" — from which the path gets its name.

The West and North Falmouth stretch of the bike path has not officially opened yet — that will happen in a ceremony July 2 — but already hundreds of people are riding, running and walking it each day.

"It's spectacular," said Leslie Diangelis of Hatchville, finishing up a walk with 5½-year-old Trayton at the County Road parking lot. "The views are just awesome."

The bike path was built with a $3.2 million federal grant and now extends 10.7 miles from County Road in North Falmouth to the Steamship Authority parking lot in Woods Hole.

Construction by Lawrence Lynch Company began just one year ago. The Falmouth-based company was given a two-year deadline, but the work is already completed save for a few punch-list items, said Edward Gross, chairman of the eight-member town bikeway committee that oversaw the project.

Built along the right-of-way for the Old Colony rail line into Woods Hole, the new bike path passes through cranberry bogs and the Sippewissett Marsh, and offers views of Chapaquoit Beach.

"You see such a different part of the Cape that you can't see from the road," Diangelis said.

At any time, onecan spot an osprey feeding on fish, gulls dropping shellfish onto the pavement or rabbits hopping through newly planted grass. For a short stretch in North Falmouth, the bike path passes a railroad spur still in use for trains headed toward the military base.

"Everybody is loving it," said Debbie Barnaby of Pocasset, who joins her friend, Michelle Dexter of North Falmouth, each day for a walk.

Well, almost everyone.

John Hruska, whose property on Overy Drive abuts the new bike path, has erected a stockade fence and at one point displayed a handmade sign that expressed his objection.

Ride the bike path with CapeCast:

"It read: The town of Falmouth took away my privacy and security, but did not pay for my fence," Hruska said. Promises were made in initial meetings to provide a buffer that weren't kept, he said.

"The bike path is fine," Hruska said. "I use it. I walk on it. I ride my bike on it. I didn't like the way Falmouth went about it."

Still, other property owners along the trail have put out water bowls for dogs and one homeowner set up a "shaved ice" stand to lure a captive and thirsty audience.

The bike path is what attracted Bill and Joyce McManus to settle in Wood Rise, a condo development along the new stretch. "It's a joy for us," Joyce McManus said. "It's absolutely beautiful."

Both she and her husband enjoy walking and wanted a safe place to do it.

"It's really gorgeous," said Teaticket resident Wilfred Bryan, 77, who was bike riding with his wife, Carolyn, 76, on a recent Monday.

"We went further than we were going to today so we could sit at the bump out," he said.

The "bump out" is an area at Oyster Pond where a wooden deck with benches was added to provide casual bikers and walkers a respite.

"It sort of leads you on," Carolyn Bryan said of the path's long, flat straightaways.

The bike path is something old and young can agree on.

Jane Earley, 9, and her brother, Thomas, 8, were out last week geocaching, a sort of high-tech treasure hunt that uses GPS. "We like it a lot," Jane said of the new bike path.

George Sykes, owner of Corner Cycle, a bike rental shop within a stone's throw of the new path, said it's already boosted his business. But he predicts it will be good for restaurants, ice cream shops and other retail outlets as well.

"It's probably one of our greatest assets the town has, and the town leaders don't always realize that," he said.

Gordon Clark, who used to travel to Falmouth from Onset to take the bike path into Woods Hole, said the new section will keep him coming back, but he still likes the old path that meanders past Vineyard Sound.

"Hopefully, someday it will be extended all the way to the canal," he said.